Synopsis taken from IGN - Based on the book by Tom Perrotta, the series follows what happens after 2% of the population vanishes without explanation. Those left behind have no concrete answer for how or why this occurred -- was it the biblical rapture? Something more ominous? -- leaving society in a very different place as a result.

Trailer (NSFW - language, mild nudity)

I am 100% in for this.

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Apparently the remaining 98% of the population continue to fuck like rabbits. I was intrigued for sure, but honestly, showing nudity and people banging just because they can is getting tired IMO.I get it HBO, you can do something that the regular channels can't. But I'm not tuning in to your shows BECAUSE you show tits and ass, and tits and asses banging together. Personally found that distracting in this trailer. If i want to watch porn I'll watch porn. This show looks promising, I hope its not all gummed up with having to show 3.4 dicks and tits every episode.

the premise sounded unoriginal and uninspiring, but that promo did look good. they keep mentioning all the people who disappear, but then the more interesting aspect seemed to be those people in white clothes who appear out of nowhere or something? that part seems more intriguing. anyhow, i'll give it a shot.

TheBaxter wrote:the premise sounded unoriginal and uninspiring, but that promo did look good. they keep mentioning all the people who disappear, but then the more interesting aspect seemed to be those people in white clothes who appear out of nowhere or something? that part seems more intriguing. anyhow, i'll give it a shot.

I thought the people in the white clothes were a cult that formed after the 2% disappear, and are trying to tell everyone not to forget what happened. I can imagine these guys knocking on my door every sunday afternoon, handing me pamphlets.

TheBaxter wrote:the premise sounded unoriginal and uninspiring, but that promo did look good. they keep mentioning all the people who disappear, but then the more interesting aspect seemed to be those people in white clothes who appear out of nowhere or something? that part seems more intriguing. anyhow, i'll give it a shot.

I thought the people in the white clothes were a cult that formed after the 2% disappear, and are trying to tell everyone not to forget what happened. I can imagine these guys knocking on my door every sunday afternoon, handing me pamphlets.

hmm, i thought they seemed a bit more mysterious than that. i'm sure i could go look up the book on wikipedia and find out, but then that would be pretty much spoiling the whole show, so i'll just watch and find out. (and if anyone does know, or goes to look it up, don't spoil it dammit!)

it's damon lindelof's first tv series since Lost. does that mean we can start spouting off crazy theories about What It All Means yet?ok, i'll go first.my theory is that the disappearances were all engineered by big tobacco companies, in a conspiracy designed to boost their flagging sale numbers by creating a cult full of mute chain-smokers.my alternate theory is that Gary Busey is a star-lord who has been living amongst us and was choosing which of us to bring with him to his home planet to start a new colony of humanity across the galaxy. i'm pretty sure at least one of those theories is mostly correct.

it was a good show. has promise. and after the first episode, we'll never have to hear liv tyler talk again. BONUS!

I have absolutely no idea where this show is going but I am thoroughly enjoying it.

The last episode was brilliantly done, humorously dark is some places, tense in others - Chris Ecclestons performance was great to watch and the twist at the end, I didn't see coming (not the first twist, the final end twist).

I'm quite happy to ride this one out for a while but if it goes anywhere along the Lost territories, I'm going to bow out after the second season, I won't tolerate that crap again.

When it was said that there was an accident involved, I immediately knew what happened and was hoping they'd revisit that scene. I now wonder if we'll get that little boy's story (whose dad disappeared).

So what IS the good reverend going to do with that money now? Battle those in white.... or join them? And what about the pigeons, who kept showing up.... increasing in number...?

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The people that are going to binge watch this show are going to have it so easy!

It was nice to see some light touches of humor thrown in every now and then in this last episode. But man.... this show is such a downer!! (I still love it, though!)Easily the most intriguing thing I've seen in a while.

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It was for a couple of reasons for me. Yes, the physical brutality was there and there was gore. But what really did it was the fact that the victim was 100% ordinary-looking. In fact, I had just remarked to myself how well-cast she was BECAUSE she was so ordinary-looking. She looked like someone you'd see once at a grocery store, and then never again in your life. I don't recall ever seeing her on screen before. Without having any lines in the show, (until the end) she did a fantastic job of portraying that character. That generic/anonymous trait increased the brutality exponentially for me.

So how long until the Chief has a dream about his daughter's friend covered in rose petals?*

*Fuck me.... American Beauty is 15 years old now.

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Some people will find the lack of answers frustrating, but 1) that's kind of the idea and 2) I really liked it. In fact, the parts of the show that I liked the least were the ones that teased some kind of mythology. I'm thinking of Holy Wayne's daughter being called "the bridge" and Sheriff Garvey's dad's possibly prophetic speeches about being chosen. THAT was the stuff that made me want to say "fuck off" to the whole thing. But I enjoyed the bleakness and confusion that the show wallowed in. I enjoyed watching the characters struggle with the Departure and what it meant, how to overcome the pain, the guilt, the nihilism of sudden and inexplicable loss when it seems like nobody else is going to do it for them. And that's the show that I want to see more of in season 2.

I keep seeing comments all over the Internet about how much better season 2 is, but the ratings are abysmal (500,000 an episode last I checked). I've got it building up on my DVR but wasn't sure I was even going to watch it.

Ribbons wrote:Did anybody watch the series finale? It's been building up on my DVR so I'll probably get to it next week.

I hope I'm not the only one with a DVR filled with half-watched seasons of various series and playing a perpetual game of catch-up while falling so far behind on some that it would take a week of solid binge watching to get current

Yeah, that is very much me as well. It would be even worse if not for the fact that I've kind of set rules for myself for that exact reason. I tend to not start watching shows unless they're already over, with a few exceptions (Legion and American Gods so far this year)

i finally finished up the series this weekend and was really happy with it. i think the 3rd season was the best season, it's really one of those rare cases of a show that got better with each season. and the finale, for me, was very satisfying. it's surprisingly informative about what happened to the missing 2%, in a way... while still maintaining a degree of ambiguity. at least, there was more of an "answer" to that question than i was expecting. that's all i'll say about that.

the Lost comparisons are inevitable, and i think the show ultimately succeeded in ways the final season and finale of Lost didn't quite manage. for one, the final season really nailed the character-centric approach. each episode seemed to focus on a single character while still advancing the ultimate story and, in most cases, providing some sense of closure or a satisfying exit point for those characters. it also, i felt, struck just the right note in terms of providing answers vs. maintaining mystery. the final episode is huge in some ways, and very small, focused and intimate in others, and works on both fronts. hard to say much more without getting into specifics.

finally, if you have any attraction whatsoever to carrie coon, you'll find the finale VERY interesting.

TheBaxter wrote:i finally finished up the series this weekend and was really happy with it. i think the 3rd season was the best season, it's really one of those rare cases of a show that got better with each season. and the finale, for me, was very satisfying. it's surprisingly informative about what happened to the missing 2%, in a way... while still maintaining a degree of ambiguity. at least, there was more of an "answer" to that question than i was expecting. that's all i'll say about that.

Although Nora's story about what happened to her is apparently not to be (completely) trusted:

The decision not to show what happened to her on the other side, or if she even successfully went through with the procedure, was made in order to cast a degree of suspicion over the whole thing. Not to mention the various lies told by other characters throughout the episode: Kevin's bizarre act that he and Nora had never met, the nun steadfastly denying that she had been with a man despite the fact that he had just climbed out of her room, and the sham-business of doves flying all over the world with messages of love because "it's just a nicer story".

TheBaxter wrote:i finally finished up the series this weekend and was really happy with it. i think the 3rd season was the best season, it's really one of those rare cases of a show that got better with each season. and the finale, for me, was very satisfying. it's surprisingly informative about what happened to the missing 2%, in a way... while still maintaining a degree of ambiguity. at least, there was more of an "answer" to that question than i was expecting. that's all i'll say about that.

Although Nora's story about what happened to her is apparently not to be (completely) trusted:

The decision not to show what happened to her on the other side, or if she even successfully went through with the procedure, was made in order to cast a degree of suspicion over the whole thing. Not to mention the various lies told by other characters throughout the episode: Kevin's bizarre act that he and Nora had never met, the nun steadfastly denying that she had been with a man despite the fact that he had just climbed out of her room, and the sham-business of doves flying all over the world with messages of love because "it's just a nicer story".

yes, that's the ambiguity i referred to. hence why i put "answer" in quotes. there is an "answer"... if you choose to believe it. but since it's only described secondhand, and never actually shown, either option is viable.

the first time i watched it, i believed her story while she was telling it, but then immediately after i was very aware that it was just a story being told, and that the decision to tell, not show, on their part was a deliberate decision that left open the possibility that she was lying or even that she hallucinated the whole thing, or hadn't gone through but had been lying to herself about it so long that she eventually came to believe it herself. i had to rewatch it later, and i still lean towards believing the story. for one thing, i'm not sure what she would have to gain by lying. also, the fact that she did come back, when seemingly no one else who went through did, lends credence. she could have chickened out at the last minute and not gone through at all, but that doesn't feel true to her character, and it's not even clear it would have been possible to back out... by the time we reach the point where it cuts away from her pod filling up with liquid, it seems like the process has passed a point of no return.

but, there's no absolute proof one way or the other of whether her account is real, and that's part of the brilliance of that ending. for people who just HAVE to have an answer, they have been given one, even though it may not be the correct one (as if there even is a "correct" answer to a fictional question). and for those who prefer to "let the mystery be", they have all the ammunition they need to dismiss the story the show provides, if they choose.

I agree, when I was watching the episode it never even occurred to me to question Nora's story. It was only afterwards when I started reading interviews with the showrunners about their intentions that I remembered she had screamed out for them to stop the machine right before it jumped into the future.

The more I think about this show, the more I realize how much I enjoyed it, particularly the last two seasons. Some people might still find the lack of resolution frustrating, but I loved the way they constantly subverted your expectations. It sits in this really particular pocket where everyone is a little bit religious, a little bit lovesick, and a little bit insane, which sounds about right to me. Stories about people struggling with their faith and learning to move on from tragedy have been told many times before, but unless I missed the movie where the president uses a dick shelf to unlock the War Room, they've never been told like this.

Ribbons wrote:I agree, when I was watching the episode it never even occurred to me to question Nora's story. It was only afterwards when I started reading interviews with the showrunners about their intentions that I remembered she had screamed out for them to stop the machine right before it jumped into the future.

i had to rewatch that part too, when she yells out (and not because she's completely naked the whole scene leading up to it... not at all.... i swear). i think they cut away at just the right moment so that you can't tell for sure what she's yelling, if she's yelling for it to stop or yelling something else.

Ribbons wrote:but unless I missed the movie where the president uses a dick shelf to unlock the War Room, they've never been told like this.

you haven't been to the white house lately, have you?

actually though, a dick shelf probably wouldn't work very well for Trump, based on the size of his hands.